ACCELERATING THE DEVELOPMENT OF RECYCLING INFRASTRUCTURE

Have you ever wondered why countries with the highest poverty levels also tend to have the most plastic pollution? Why aren’t people living on just dollars a day able escape poverty by collecting and selling this petroleum based resource?

Ethical supply chains

In most developing economies, the informal sector is responsible for recycling the majority of plastic waste. However, this informal supply chain is very exploitative and dysfunctional, which makes accessing markets challenging.

Middlemen are a must for connecting those at the base of the supply chain to the commercial buyers of the plastic, however the volatility in price and limited access to working capital makes it difficult for the middlemen to pay the wastepickers consistent fair prices.

To address these issues, Plastics for Change has developed an ethical sourcing platform to facilitate a mutually beneficial deal process for all stakeholders. The deals are designed in advance to reward socially and environmentally responsible behaviour through the supply chain. Our mobile platform creates transparency and accountability for all stakeholders participating in the deal. The middleman’s commission is based upon the price received by those at the base of the supply chain.

Keeping the carbon in the ground.

The best way to keep the oil in the ground is to destroy the demand for the resource. Sourcing recycled plastic saves C02 emissions and consumes less energy in comparison to extracting new plastic polymers from the earth's crust. We help brands switch from using virgin plastic (new plastics from oil) by providing ethically sourced recycled plastic which can be used in manufacturing.

If not us who? If not now when?

Each year, at least 8 million tonnes of plastics leak into the ocean, which is equivalent to dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute. Today, almost half of all marine mammals now have plastic in their gut. We are the last generation that has a chance to stop climate destabilization and determine the fate of our oceans. Our platform accelerates the development of recycling infrastructure to address the root cause of ocean plastic leakage.

We need your help to scale this ethical trading platform with local partners throughout developing countries in Asia.